The hounding of Kate Hoey MP

Kate Hoey gave us an inspirational speech at our CIB rally of 2016, a little more than a month before the referendum So it is sad to report that her Vauxhall constituency Labour party passed a vote of no confidence and wants the Labour party to withdraw the whip from her. Forty five party members out of a branch membership of 2,300 turned up for the meeting and only three abstained from the vote. The other forty two voted in favour.

Kate told the Independent “ Not a surprise – my local party activists are solid EU remainers, I will always put my country before my party and helping my constituents is a priority . After 29 years as an MP I am quite relaxed about the vote and it won’t influence me in any way how I vote in the future”.

She was one of four Labour MPs to vote with Theresa May’s government on a crucial vote that resulted in the prime minister narrowly avoiding defeat. She was also one of the 42 Labour MPs who actually voted in support of Jeremy Corbyn as leader.

Kate will no doubt be looking ahead with her usual firmness and vigour to deliver what people voted for in the referendum. We also owe her a considerable debt for deliverance from one of the nastier projects of the European Union some twenty years ago.

A principled independence campaigner for all her political life, Kate is particularly remembered for her part in frustrating the attempted introduction of the uniform EU legal code Corpus Juris in 1998 which would have abolished long-held British rights such as jury trial and habeas corpus. Kate was a Home Office Minister at the time and promised to veto it. Labour MEPs supported the new legal system in Strasbourg, Tony Blair did not have the stomach to disown Kate publicly but she was later moved to Sport. Neither did Blair endorse Pauline Green MEP (Labour) the leader of the European Socialists who contrived a motion in the EU Parliament to “welcome” this appalling denial of British freedoms*, a motion which was also supported by Conservative MEPs, contrary to the stated policy of their own party.

We hear that another principled Labour supporter of independence and democracy, FRANK FIELD MP is facing similar action from his constituency party.

All friends of freedom will wish them well.

* For the full background to this vital and still continuing threat, please see Torquil Dick Erikson’s articles at savebritishjustice.wordpress.com . The European Arrest Warrant (EAW), so beloved of Mrs May, is an offshoot of this alien philosophy, achieved by a totally unjustified “Mutual Recognition ” amongst the very different legal systems used in EU states, in particular as between our system, derived from Magna Carta and the systems used on the continent, largely derived from the Inquisition via Napoleon.

The Labour Party and Jeremy Corbyn are far from unelectable, I’m afraid. At the moment, due to Teresa May’s muddle over her Chequer’s Plan, they are about four percentage points ahead in some polls. If the Tories disappoint enough people over their fake non-Brexit intentions and their non-control of immigration then many people who were wiling to give them the benefit of the doubt may abstain whilst supporters of Corbyn and Labour go to the polling booths and give his party enough support to either become the leading party in a hung parliament or even a tiny overall majority.

It’s high time the Tories elected somebody to be their leader who stopped the constant pandering to people of a left-liberal globalist persuasion ie Guardian and Independent readers! Not only would that be right in principle it is also the fact that the vast majority of globalist left-liberals would NEVER contemplate voting Tory in the first place! Also, due to our archaic electoral system, it is highly possible that Labour could fail to win as many votes as the Tories overall in the country yet also WIN the MOST SEATS as there is often a marked disconnection between votes and seats in our system ie Winston Churchill’s Tories HAD LESS VOTES than Labour did in 1951 yet won the most seats and formed a government with a majority of 17 seats and, conversely, Labour under Harold Wilson had the MOST SEATS in February 1974 even though Edward Heath’s Tories HAD THE MOST VOTES and thus he should have been able to form his second administration!

Kate Hoey is a good MP and is certainly one of the most sensible and rational people within today’s Labour Party. No doubt the reason she is unwilling to stand as an independent is that independents have a very poor record of either retaining their seats without their former party label or winning them as independents in the first place. Many voters in our system think they are voting for a party but technically they are not and are only voting for an individual to represent their distinct locality within parliament (about the ONLY thing FPTP IS good for!) In Germany, under their system, they have TWO votes each so they can vote with their first vote for any candidate in their constituency they think would make an excellent MP for their area and use their SECOND to show support for the PARTY they want to form the government or be a strong component part of it. If we had that system in 1997 here then Tory voters who disliked Neil Hamilton MP in Tatton, Cheshire could have voted for Martin Bell WHILST ALSO NOT GOING against their party by voting for the Tory list on the regional North West list element of the system.

I only wish that there were more MPs like Kate in the labour party she is a reminder of the kind of labour party that I voted for! Having voted labour for 45 years I now find it impossible to even contemplate giving labour my vote, I no longer recognise the labour party as a representative of the working class people! I shake my head in disbelief at Jeremy Corbin who sounds and looks more like someone from, The wheel Tappers and Shunters club! Long live the Kate Hoey’s a true representative of her country and its people!

Typical Labour. It claims to be tolerant but throws out any MPs who respect democracy or fight against anti-Semitism. Kate Hoey is the only Labour MP I have ever liked, and now the number of truly democratic Labour MPs will be reduced to 3. I could never vote for such an extremist, intolerant party.

Many of the so-called ‘anti-semitism’ allegations are overblown and are being made by Zionist fanatics (often made by people who have links with the state of Israel by way of their Embassy or are members of the Labour Friends of Israel group or disappointed Blairites) who will not tolerate opinions about the Israeli state or its actions that are in anyway less than 100% complimentary. People SHOULD be able to be critical of Israel without being smeared as ‘anti-semites’. I believe there are very few genuine anti-semites in the Labour Party. It is noteworthy that a lot of these allegations have been made when Labour has been in the lead in the opinion polls.

Steven

July 31, 2018 at 5:20 pm

An Israeli politician and former minister of that state once stated that we use the cover of ‘anti-semitism’ whenever foreign politicians are too critical of Israel.

Labour has a genuine problem with anti-Semitism. A good proportion of Jews are actually socialists, but many are rapidly leaving the party due to the rise of anti-Semitism. When Labour councillors are tweeting their denial of the Holocaust, when Labour MPs are subject to investigation after calling their leader an anti-Semite, and when Jews are flooding out of the country, something has clearly gone wrong. Of course we have the right to criticise Israel’s policies, as we might criticise any other nation’s policies, but that is not what Corbyn wants the right to do. He refuses to accept it is anti-Semitic to say that believing in the state of Israel is racist or to draw parallels between Israel and Nazi Germany. To make both of the statements would be wrong and anti-Semitic. It is also worthwhile asking why it took months to investigate and suspend Ken Livingstone but Margaret Hodge is investigated within days of making accusations against Corbyn.

I think you misunderstand where globalism is on the political spectrum. The left is actually very protectionist; you only need to glance at Corbyn’s policies once to see that. The right is globalist and more outward-looking, (e.g. Tories and UKIP.)

I would make another point as well. Despite how some may wish we adopted PR, we haven’t, and we must be careful to treat election results as if they were conducted along those lines. I know of many people who vote, not for a political party, but for the MP that they think will be best for their constituency. For example, Churchill was incredibly popular, but socialist MPs often appealed more to their Blitz-battered constituents, who, without the experience we have today, were more easily swayed by the new-born ideology of a working-class MP who promised to rebuild their war-torn towns and cities.

Corbyn and Labour wouldn’t dare target their core Muslim Black or Jobseeker voter base would they wouldn’t dare they must never be allowed into Government I am not even Jewish and I find it repugnant

Steven

August 3, 2018 at 2:25 pm

Zionist extremists in the media are making-up many of these ‘anti-semitic’ allegations and also some Blairites in the party and in the liberal commentariat are colluding with them merely because they hate the fact the Labour Party has seemingly returned to its socialist roots and they want it back under their total control once again. The people who are genuinely anti-semitic are few and far between and are normally muslim extremists rather than gentile whites. The mostly Tory press are also using this as a stick to beat Labour with as they are frightened of the fact that Labour could be either the largest party in a hung parliament next time or even win an overall majority by a tiny margin. Notice how the Tory press don’t mention the fact that genuine anti-semites EXIST IN ALL PARTIES in this country including the Tory Party?

I make these comments whilst holding no brief for either Labour or the Tories. My own belief is that BOTH of these parties couldn’t run a whelk stall on Southend Pier succesfullly so I have a low opinon of BOTH of them.

Steven

August 3, 2018 at 2:43 pm

Adam, the Labour Party isn’t targetting Jews as Jews many (though not all) are targeting Israel as A STATE and are severely crictical of some of its actions. It seems to me they are targetting Israel because they view it as some kind of hangover from the days of colonialism and as a ‘white (explictily WRONG) SETTLER state hence they are reflexively against as a matter of principle it just as quite a few would be against Britain having control over the Falkland Islands.

I am not a Labour Party person so you would have to talk to them to get indiside the mindset of some of these Israeli critics in the Labour Party but that is what it seems to me to be about.

Steven

August 3, 2018 at 3:02 pm

Whilst I agree with your first two examples, I can’t with the third. Some Labour Party Blairite ministers such as David Blunkett to take one example used language about the unemployed that was as bigoted as sadly many Tories are about these people.

Israel has recently passed a law promoting an explictly nationalist stance of it being a ‘Jewish state for the Jewish people’ even though 20% or so of its population is Arab. If Germany, us or any other gentile nation in the world passed such a law we would be called ‘Nazi’, ‘fascist’ etc yet Israel is given a free pass by the world’s media and isn’t condemmed for this? Why is that so? Corbyn is NO ‘anti-semite’ he has the view that Israel is a colonial white state so being a Labour man he would naturally be against it (of course, Israel is NOT a white country and the Jews who live there would take strong exception to being called white by Corbyn or any white politician from abroad). His views on Israel are confused but they can’t genuinely be described as ‘anti-semitic’. Also, there ARE some Jews in the world who are fiercely anti-Zionist and DON’T WANT ISRAEL AS A SELF-PROCLAIMED ‘ZIONIST’ STATE to exist.

Margaret Hodge is under investigation for the simple reason she was eceptionally rude to the ELECTED Labour Party leader (I believe she actually SWORE at him). Such behavior would be condemmed by any party and would normally be subject to disciplinary proceedures

Jews can often be very paranoid and think EVERY gentile is a closet Nazi and liable to attack them at any moment and this might well be an explanation for many of them chosing to go and live in Israel and emigrating to it from Britain. Zionists often make-up accusations of ‘anti-semitism’ in order to encourage Jews to make ‘aliyah’ to Israel as this helps to strengthen the Zionist state.

I don’t know what the solution to the Israeli situation is. Perhaps, a two state solution would work but then Israel by its actions in taking more and more land for settlement purposes has made that idea pretty much defunct. Perhaps, we could reverse history and call it Israel-Palestine ie a single state for BOTH peoples? I am under the impression that before we in Britain meddled in that part of the world Palestinians and the few Jewss than then lived in Palestine lived together in relative harmony.

I think you misunderstand politics because you view it from a Thatcheirte Tory angle. UKIP and the Tories are MARKET LIBERAL RIGHT and globalist policies are natural to them but NOT to ‘TRADITONAL ‘OLD’ RIGHT’ parties like many Continental European countries and Japan have.

You really don’t have to be ‘left-wing’ to oppose excessive market fundamentalism and too much economic globalism.

Yes, some MPs DO have a ‘personal vote’ but it normally amounts to less than around 3,000 odd votes in total even for the most popular of them. The fact remains that MOST people VOTE FOR the party affiliation of the MP. ie in my ultra-safe Tory seat the new MP could quite literally murder a newborn baby and he would still win by a landslide DUE TO THE FACT HE IS A TORY. Some MPs have their party label stripped from them by their own parties ie after they have been deselected and some of these people have been very well-liked in their own constituencies etc but when they stand as independents they go on to attract very few votes.

It isn’t racist to be critical of the state of Israel’s existence not least for the fact there are some Jews in the world who also critizise it from that stanpoint. Why does Israel get to call itself the ‘Jewish state for the JEWISH people’ when others in the world can’t do that? If a German Chancellor suddenly came out and said, “Germany is and must always remain a German state for the ETHNIC GERMAN PEOPLE’ despite the fact it has many people of Turkish origin there nowdays and other ethnicities such a leader would be called racist by pratically the entire world media and heavily condemmed yet Israel’s PM is allowed to explictily state that Israel is meant only to be a state for Jews only. This is the kind of hypocrisy people are critical of ZIONISTS for yet they are then condemmed for ‘anti-semitism’. At any rate, Israel could be defined as being ‘anti-semitic’ since Palestinians are semites like Jews are and the state of Israel quite often ill-treats them.

This is why I thnk the German/New Zealand system of PR called Mixed-Member Proportional Representation would be a good one for Britain to adopt because with that system you get TWO votes ie one for a constituency MP which you could use to reward an MP of WHATEVER PARTY or an independent for dilligently represeting a constituency in parliament WHILST NOT having to go against voting for your favourite party. This gives much needed CHOICE to an electorate (a supposed Tory value in most affairs but NOT when it comes to politics and protecting their duoply with Labour!) whilst also AVOIDING the EXTREME wastage of votes INHERENT in the ‘democratic’ absurdity that is First Past The Post.

Zionist extremists very often conflate anti-Zionism and opppostion to the state of Israel’s existence or its actions as ‘anti-semitism’ and yes genuine anti-semites often hide behind anti-Zionism as a cover but this isn’t always the case and we should be careful to make the distinction.

I personally would have no problem with Germany passing a law branding itself an exclusively German nation. It must be remembered, though, that Jews can be any nationality as well as Israeli. There is nothing Nazi about saying that Israel is Jewish.
Who are the Zionist extremists in the media? Who are these anti-Semites in the Tory Party? I can’t think of any examples.
Magaret Hodge certainly didn’t handle her accusations in the politest of ways, but Ian Austin did and he is under investigation as well. My point still stands: why did it take so long to deal with Ken Livingstone in comparison? Corbyn’s Labour has a long history of shutting down any dissidents in the party.
It is nonsense to claim that Jews are emigrating to Israel because they believe Gentiles are all closet Nazis. They don’t; most of them love Britain but are leaving because they are concerned Corbyn will get in at the next election. There are many accounts of them saying as much. They do not all immigrate to Israel; many of them go to other countries, like the US, that they feel safer in.
There is only one way to deal with the Israel-Palestine issue. Governments have sat on the fence for too long and mumbled about a two-state solution which clearly neither party will accept. It is time to come down on one side, whether that is in a pro-Israel Trump fashion or a pro-Palestine Corbyn style. I personally believe that Israel belongs to the Jews as they were there long before any Muslim was on the face of the earth. The Balfour Declaration was one of the greatest achievements of any British Government, but I accept that some people would not share this view.
I agree that the Tory press has used this as an opportunity to recover ground from Labour; but that does not mean anti-Semitisim in the party is nonexistent. It not only the Tories who can see it; some of Corbyn’s closest allies are frustrated he has not done more to tackle it – Owen Jones, John McDonnell, and Chris Leslie, to name a few. Some, like Hodge, Austin, and Stephen Kinnock, are considering leaving the party.
Let’s recap what Corbyn has done over the past few years. He has called Palestinian terrorists brothers, compared the Israel blockade to the Nazi blockade of Stalingrad, and shared platforms with Palestinian extremists. He has blamed an Islamic terror attack in Egypt on the Jews, refused to accept the international definition of anti-Semitism, which the far-right government in Hungary is the only other European party to reject, and called police to throw out any Zionist dissidents at meetings he has arranged. Add this to his known links to the IRA and Communist spies, you can’t tell me this man is not a threat.
If by “Old Right” parties you mean the pre-Corn laws nineteenth century Conservatives or the Trump Republicans, then you have a point. Globalism is now an almost universally recognized consensus, and this is not the fault of an undemocratic electoral system; Germany is about as globalist as it gets. Who can blame them, when the biggest economy of all is the fervently capitalist and, despite Trump, pro-free trade United States?
I do support PR, though, and I believe it could work here with a few modifications. I just do not believe we are living under some kind of Whitehall dictatorship. Too many people have become paranoid that the system is rigged and that the Establishment is set up against them.

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The Campaign for an Independent Britain is a non-party political campaigning organisation of people from all walks of life who recognize that continuing British membership of the European Union poses grave threats to our liberties, independence, and economic prosperity.

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